Adhesives are often used to bond substrates together. In the area of industrial adhesives, hot melt adhesives are commonly used to bond together a wide variety of articles including disposable absorbent articles comprising non-woven substrates e.g. diapers, training paints, surgical garments, swim wear, absorbent underpants, adult incontinence products, sanitary napkins and medical dressings (e.g. wound care products).
There can be multiple hot melt adhesives used in the manufacture of a disposable absorbent article. For example, in the manufacture of a disposable diaper, hot melt adhesives are used for construction (e.g. bonding the backsheet to the nonwoven and optionally the absorbent pad), elastic attachment (e.g. bonding the elastic material to the backsheet in (or example the leg or waist area), and for core stabilization (e.g. applying a hot melt adhesive to the absorbent core to increase the strength of the core).
Hot melt adhesives can also be used to form elastic composites that are useful in disposable articles. Currently, elastic composites are often formed in a 5-layer configuration including the following layers: nonwoven, hot melt adhesive, elastic material, hot melt adhesive, nonwoven. The hot melt adhesive bonds the non adhesive elastic to the nonwoven to form a composite.
Alternatively, a hot melt adhesive with elastic properties can replace the elastic material to form simplified composites that can impart stretch to various portions of the disposable article.